Agudat Yisrael
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Agudat Yisrael אגודת ישראל | |
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Political position | Right-wing |
Religion | Haredi Judaism (Hasidism) |
International affiliation | World Agudath Israel |
Alliances | United Religious Front (1949–1951) Religious Torah Front (1955–1960, 1973–1977) United Torah Judaism (current) |
Knesset | 4 / 120
|
Most MKs | 5 (1988) |
Election symbol | |
ג | |
Website | |
smart-click | |
Agudat Yisrael (
Since the 1980s, it has become a predominantly Hasidic party, though it often combines with the Degel HaTorah non-Hasidic Ashkenazi Haredi party for elections and coalition-forming (although not with the Sephardi and Mizrahi Haredi party Shas). When so combined, they are known together as United Torah Judaism.
History
When political Zionism began to emerge in the 1890s, and recruit supporters in Europe and America, it was opposed by many Orthodox Jews, who believed the Jewish state would emerge from divine intervention.[3] World Agudath Israel was founded in Kattowitz, German Empire (now Katowice, Poland), in 1912, to provide an umbrella organization for observant Jews who opposed the Zionist movement.
In Palestine, Agudat Yisrael was established as a branch of this movement, to provide opposition to the organised Zionist Jewish community (the "New Yishuv", as opposed to the traditionalist, religious "Old Yishuv"). One of its most authoritative spokesmen against the formation of a Jewish State, the Dutch poet Jacob Israël de Haan, was assassinated by the Haganah in 1924. In 1933, it entered into an agreement with the Jewish Agency in Palestine, according to which Agudat Yisrael would receive 6.5% of the immigration permits.[4] In the wake of the Holocaust, anti-Zionist rabbis who led Agudat Israel recognised the great utility of a Jewish state, and it became non-Zionist, rather than anti-Zionist. It did not actively participate in the creation of Israel, but it ceased its opposition to it.[3] Eventually, on the eve of the Israeli Declaration of Independence (1948), Agudat Yisrael yielded to pressure from the Zionist movement, and since that time, it has been a participant in most Israeli governments.[5] Over time, the movement realized that its more active participation in politics would come with benefits, and it agreed to become a coalition partner of several Israeli governments. However, its original reservations about a secular government influenced its decision to refuse cabinet positions.[3]
Agudat Yisrael originally had a mixed
When both parties joined the government coalition of
Though Agudat Yisrael has never elected more than ten members in the Knesset, it has often played crucial roles in the formation of Israel's
Religious and political leadership
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Conservatism in Israel |
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Political power is vested in the Hasidic Rebbes of Ger, Belz, Vizhnitz, and Boston.
In addition, policy decisions of Agudat Yisrael are ratified by its
In 1948, Rabbi Yehuda Meir Abramowicz was appointed as General Secretary.
Rabbi Meir Porush, as well as Yaakov Litzman, and Yisrael Eichler, from the Hasidic courts of Ger and Belz, respectively, have represented the party in Israel's Knesset. Another long-time Agudat MK is Rabbi Shmuel Halpert, a member of the court of Vizhnitz.
Election results
Election | Leader | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | Government |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1949 | Yitzhak-Meir Levin | Part of the United Religious Front | 2 / 120
|
Coalition | ||
1951 | 13,799 | 2.01 (#9) | 3 / 120
|
1 | Coalition (1951–1952) | |
Opposition (1952–1955) | ||||||
1955 | Part of the Religious Torah Front | 3 / 120
|
Opposition | |||
1959 | 3 / 120
|
Opposition | ||||
1961 | 37,178 | 3.69 (#8) | 4 / 120
|
Opposition | ||
1965 | 39,795 | 3.30 (#7) | 4 / 120
|
Opposition | ||
1969 | 44,002 | 3.22 (#4) | 4 / 120
|
Opposition | ||
1973 | Shlomo Lorincz | Part of the Religious Torah Front | 3 / 120
|
1 | Opposition | |
1977 | Yehuda Meir Abramowicz | 58,652 | 3.36 (#6) | 4 / 120
|
1 | Coalition |
1981 | Avraham Yosef Shapira | 72,312 | 3.73 (#4) | 4 / 120
|
Coalition | |
1984 | 36,079 | 1.74 (#11) | 2 / 120
|
2 | Coalition | |
1988 | Moshe Ze'ev Feldman | 102,714 | 4.50 (#4) | 5 / 120
|
3 | Coalition |
1992 | Avraham Yosef Shapira | Part of United Torah Judasim | 3 / 120
|
2 | Opposition | |
1996 | Meir Porush | 2 / 120
|
1 | Coalition | ||
1999 | 3 / 120
|
Coalition | ||||
2003 | Yaakov Litzman | 3 / 120
|
Coalition | |||
2006 | 4 / 120
|
1 | Opposition | |||
2009 | 3 / 120
|
1 | Coalition | |||
2013 | 4 / 120
|
1 | Opposition | |||
2015 | 3 / 120
|
1 | Coalition | |||
Apr 2019 | 4 / 120
|
1 | Caretaker | |||
Sep 2019 | 4 / 120
|
Caretaker | ||||
2020 | 3 / 120
|
1 | Coalition | |||
2021 | 3 / 120
|
Opposition | ||||
2022 | Yitzhak Goldknopf | 4 / 120
|
1 | Coalition |
See also
- Agudath Israel of America
- Degel HaTorah
- Haredi Judaism
- Hasidim and Mitnagdim
- United Torah Judaism
- World Agudath Israel
References
- ^ "Guide to Israel's political parties". BBC News. 21 January 2013. Retrieved 28 June 2015.
- ^ Ishaan Tharoor (14 March 2015). "A guide to the political parties battling for Israel's future". The Washington Post. Retrieved 28 June 2015.
- ^ ISBN 9780521825979.
- ^ "Agudat Yisrael" in Answers.com
- ^ Aguddat Israel in Jewish Virtual Library
External links
- Agudat Yisrael Knesset website
- Agudat Yisrael Jewish Virtual Library